Wrestling Review: iMPACT Wrestling Bound for Glory (2020)

[Please note: as I am watching this delayed, news has come out after the show finished. There are no match spoilers, but I vaguely mention some things in the Gauntlet match.]

It’s the biggest night of the wrestling calendar for iMPACT Wrestling, as championships are decided and grudges are settled at Bound for Glory. In the main event, the unhinged Eric Young defends his Impact World Championship against Rich Swann, while Deonna Purrazzo will be just as determined to defend her Impact Knockouts championship, no matter who her opponent may be. The Tag Team Championships will also be contested in a four-way tag team match, as the current holders of the gold, The Motor City Machine Guns, Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin goes it alone against the three other teams of Ace Austin & Madman Fulton, Ethan Page & Josh Alexander and Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson. Also on the card, EC3 and Moose will finally settle their score, Eddie Edwards will have to fight with Ken Shamrock, and the X Division Championship is on the line as Rohit Raju defends against TJP, Trey, Chris Bey, Willie Mack and the knockout, Jordynne Grace in a six person scramble.

+ Eric Young (c) vs Rich Swann (Impact World Championship): this match was good, but it really would have been great if it had a crowd. The way the match was set out it was clear that they wanted those big reactions for kickouts, failures, submissions etc. Rich Swann is really good, and he is finally getting a chance to shine in a major company, but Eric Young is one of the best bad guys in wrestling, who once again is given a chance to work at his best. I did enjoy this, but it would ahve been twice as good with a crowd
+ Deonna Purrazzo (w/ Kimber Lee) defends her Impact Knockouts Championship: this was not quite as advertised, and such I’ve changed the “name” of the match here. I think I liked this, but because it wasn’t what was advertised, and therefore what I was expecting, it’s a bit hard to say. The challenger was a good surprise, and Purrazzo is a good champion so the match was not sloppy or poorly worked, but it just didn’t feel like a big deal. I’ll call it a positive, but it’s the weakest of the positive matches
+ The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (c) vs Ace Austin & Madman Fulton vs The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) vs The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) (Impact World Tag Team Championships): I sung the praises of the North at Slammiversary, and I stand by that statement especially after all of Ethan Page’s stuff in various other promotions – that said, I think Josh alexander is one of the most underrated guys in wrestling right now. The Good brothers are great, as you’d expect, and they have not lost anything after their stint in WWE. The MCMG are one of the best teams in Impact/TNA history for a reason, however, and it’s hard to not say Sabinw as the MVP of this match (for obvious reasons). I’m not entirely sold on the Austin/Fulton team, but they do compliment each other well. That’s a lot of words to say that this was really good
+ EC3 vs Moose: as far as pre-taped, “cinematic” video packages go, this was roughly middle of the road. The trash talking was relatively important, and certainly well exected – as you’d expect from EC3 – but the poor microphone set up meant lots of it was missed or difficult to understand. This was a bloody affair, but it suited the story, and overall I’d call this a positive for the show
+ Rohit Raju (c) vs TJP vs Willie Mack vs Trey vs Jordynne Grace vs Chris Bey (Scramble Match for the Impact X-Division Championship): I liked this. Try, Bey and Grace were all good (Grace, in particular fit right in with the boys). TJP is good, and has been good on New Japan Strong, and Willie Mack is just fantastic. Rohit Raju played the slimy bad guy champion perfectly, and overall the various competitors gelled really well

– Ken Shamrock (w/ Sami Callihan) vs Eddie Edwards: Edwards is great, but frankly Shamrock is just not up to these long, athletic matches anymore. The opening portion, a faux-MMA “fight” was probably the highlight, until a particularly underwhelming ending
– Call Your Shot Gauntlet Match: this match basically happened in three segments; the first third of the match was standard battle royale fair. The second portion was when the would-be winner came out, but suffered a legitimately injury and was basically not involved any more. The final part was the ending stretch, which frankly wasn’t that bad, but it was clearly rushed together. This was not a good match, but it was a victim of circumstance more than anything

Should you watch this event: This was a good show. If you can get over the awkwardness of the gauntlet, and take or leave Shamrock in a long match as you will, this was a really easy show to watch with much more good than bad.